CLEARWATER, Fla. — When Jonathan Papelbon told an Allentown Morning Call reporter earlier in the week, “Since I’ve been here I haven’t seen any leadership,” it could have irked the veteran players who have comprised the nucleus of the team for much of the last decade.

That, however, wouldn’t be leading. Instead, Jimmy Rollins and the closer who came to the Phillies last winter from the Red Sox as a free-agent signing discussed what went awry in 2012 on the golf course Thursday.

The veteran shortstop’s message: Because of injuries, Papelbon didn’t see the best of what he, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley bring to the clubhouse.

“I would say we didn’t have the identity last year that we had in previous years,” Rollins said. “And (identity and leadership) are basically one in the same.

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“Yeah, I know (what Papelbon said). It was what it was. Me and Pap were actually at the golf course talking about that. He brought up the feel of the team this year compared to last year. The difference and how much better it is this year.

“It’s nothing to take offense to.”

The leadership issue is one that seems to crop up in the spring for every team that is coming off a season in which it failed to reach the postseason. It just isn’t every year that a player is the one who does the questioning of said leadership.

That said, last spring was trying for the Phillies, who saw Howard and Utley suffer setbacks that kept them off the field and separated them from partaking in the routines of spring training.

“As far as normalcy goes, it’s good to be back,” said Howard, who smoked a line drive off the right-center fence for a single during Friday’s intrasquad scrimmage. “It’s tough trying to create chemistry with me and Chase and Doc (Halladay) going down. But now we have a spring training where we can come back and reform that chemistry, and continue to try and stay healthy throughout spring training, and try to go into the regular season like we’ve never skipped a beat.”

Rollins said that the team has had more of a parliamentary leadership inside the clubhouse than one figurehead, and that the veteran infielders share the responsibilities.

“It definitely isn’t a cheerleading ‘rah-rah’ kind of leadership,” he said. “If something is going on, if it’s a guy I’m close with, or if Ryan sees something, if Chase sees something, they come to me or vice versa. It isn’t just placed on one guy’s shoulders. It’s kind of spread out.”

Shockingly, Freddy Galvis and Ty Wigginton weren’t quite the same as players or leaders while filling in for Utley and Howard.

“When he said he felt we didn’t have leadership,” Charlie Manuel said of Papelbon, “it was probably who we had and were playing at that time that had something to do with that.

“He came over here, we had just won 102 games (in 2011). He thought we were going to hit homers. He thought we were going to pitch shutouts and be in close games. He might have been a little bit disappointed in what he saw because we had injuries and did not play well. That’s what he was talking about.”

Manuel also offered a challenge to Papelbon to be a leader in a bullpen that will have at least a couple of young arms preparing for a full season with the big club for the first time.

“I’ve talked to him about being a leader in our bullpen because he can,” Manuel said. “He has that status. If he can filter his energy, his personality can inspire young pitchers.”

If Rollins could go back and do it again, perhaps he would have tried to do something differently last season. Instead, he, Howard and Utley will focus on proving to Papelbon and anyone else with questions about the leadership that it’s back.

The bond was broken,” Rollins said. “Now we’re back together. The glue is back together. You can have a lead singer, but without a man playing the guitar and drums, it’s a different band.”

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Adam Morgan didn’t play it cool when asked if he remembered when he got word that he was invited to big-league camp with the Phillies.

“December 18,” the southpaw said after serving as the starting pitcher for Team Brundage and working two scoreless innings. “I had no idea. (Director of player development) Joe Jordan called me and I was like, ‘Are you sure you got the right number, man?’

“It was awesome. It really hasn’t set in. I still have the voicemail saved. I missed the phone call because I was working out in the morning. He left me a voicemail and I didn’t delete it.”

The Phils drafted Morgan out of the University of Alabama, and he has gotten on the same fast track that Randy Wolf took 15 years ago. In fact, at 6-1, 195, he’s not that physically different that Wolf.

And considering the craftiness he shows on the mound — he throws four pitches, none of which is considered a weak link, and got a pair of double-play grounders Friday — he is the type of guy who might be called upon sooner rather than later if rotation help is needed.

“I’m just taking it day by day and enjoying it,” said Morgan, who went 8-11, 3.35 ERA in 27 games between Class A Clearwater and Double-A Reading last season. “I’m picking some of these guys’ brains and trying to learn.”